DIY Deux

SO, I've been wanting to try stenciling for a while now. I had a vision in our downstairs bathroom. I thought what a perfect place to start -- a small space, just one wall. I looked around at stencils and other blogs for inspiration. We are on a tight budget and I wasn't feeling forking out the $30-50 and up for a stencil. I eventually stumbled upon Jones Design Company, which had a tutorial and a free template! Hello FREE! I had the paint, brushes, ect...I just needed to find the time. Luckily (and also sadly) my children came down with a very strange virus that made them extremely sleepy. Like Willow took 3-4 hour naps with 30 minutes awake in between and Piper barely got off the couch, and when she did she rolled around on the floor until she fell asleep...on the floor. Of course I felt horrible for them and their misery, BUT i took full advantage of my forced hermitude (word? now it is.).

Now, as you may know, my ability to finish things with perfection is something i am working on. Kind of. I secretly enjoy my ability to not give a crap if a shelf is totally not level. Anyways, when it comes to stenciling, you kind of need to be exact. At least try, right? Well, I started off confident, sans level. Then about 3/4 of the way down the wall I had the BRIGHT idea of stepping back and checking out my handiwork. Well, handiwork it was NOT. I apparently have no baring when it comes to straight lines. It was bad. When I showed Ian he tried to supportive by saying, "Oh, you know, it's not that bad. It looks kind of rustic, like the walls have settled, but the pattern stayed the same." Thanks love muffin, I appreciate the boost. I promptly found the level and a large eraser.

This way of stenciling requires a steady and patient hand. Which I have for a short period of time. Needless to say, there are places where I messed up pretty bad. I need to get a smaller brush to pretty-up the lines, but as you may know, that may or may not happen some time in 2013. Please enjoy my "OOPS" spots...according to Ian, it makes it rustic.

before

What Piper did...isn't she sweet?